Albert Yi
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Everything posted by Albert Yi
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So this is pretty good ramen. I had the miso with extra chashu. The noodles were good, had decent amount of springiness. The chashu...well I can't really tell you much because mine fell to pieces before I could really taste it. But it seemed pretty tender. I think the broth is the most important part of good ramen and this one was good. A touch too salty, and a bit too fatty, but good enough to sip. I think Ren's miso ramen has the edge here: IMO they have the perfect balance and they use a ton of garlic and ginger to round out the flavor base which I didn't get from the Daikaya broth. But with some experimentation I think they can get there. This is a definite top-3-ramen-in-dc-area contender. Unfortunately, because of the hip decor and its metro accessibility, and the fact that they're gonna be opening up an izakaya also, and the lack of reservations, I'm worried about this place getting mobbed with people. Ramen Ranking: 1) Ren's (just because I don't have to wait 2 hours for a bowl) 2) Toki Underground 3) Daikaya 4) Sakuramen 5) Sushi Taro 6) Various MoCo spots like Temari and Satsuma
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Ugh, I'm always annoyed when the egg or pork are obviously cold. I guess this is one advantage to Toki's approach where they use a soft boiled egg cooked on demand and mostly use shredded pork which isn't as susceptible to being overcooked.
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There's a dearth of good Korean BBQ places in Rockville so I was excited to hear about Iron Age, which opened up about a year ago. Unfortunately my experience here wasn't positive. I went with about seven other people for a meetup group. Between us we split a shabu shabu pot and the pork BBQ set. The BBQ portion is all you can eat for $18-$22 per person. For this reason they were really strict about the shabu shabu people not sampling any grilled meats. Service was poor. Our server seemed incapable of multitasking, despite the fact that the restaurant was nearly empty. He flat out refused to take orders when he was busy doing something else. We didn't even get our first glass of water until the grill and the shabu shabu had been set up. On the plus side, he was prompt once he decided to graciously accept our request. But I'm willing to forgive bad service for good food, and the food was not good. We asked for lettuce and we got this sad looking bowl of diced up greens dressed in a sweet soy sauce. I'm accustom to having some sort of wrapper (lettuce or wontons or something) for KBBQ and we didn't get anything like that. The dipping sauces were anemic: both the ssamjang and the chili sauce were watery. The complimentary gyeran jjim was a joke: completely flavorless. The other banchan were mostly misses: a potato salad that was too sweet and a sludgy kimchee that, while sour (the way I like it), had no texture and tasted mushy. As for the meats: the pork belly was expected. Thankfully it's hard to mess up. Next came the beef brisket, which was still frozen and the fat parts were disintegrating. The soy marinated pork had an off taste. I was disappointed they didn't offer a gochujang-based daeji bulgogi which would've been a better use for the meat. So this place is a far cry from Honey Pig or Shin Chon, which are my primary experiences with good KBBQ. Based on my experience here I can't reccommend it, but I wanted to do a write up in case someone does a search.
- 27 replies
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- Local Chain
- Rockville
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I think I've been tasked with reviewing this place after our group meet up. Overall it was nice and if I lived in the neighborhood (and I didn't have to wait for a table) I would come by more often. The soup dumplings (my first time trying them) were good: thin wrappers with scalding hot juice inside. Very meaty and satisfying. I also liked the cold spicy wonton wrappers a lot: delicate texture and a good balance of flavors. Everything else was kind of average. The rest of the group kept wanting something spicier and we kept getting stuff that wasn't notable. The last dish, the chicken with peppers and black bean sauce, had a nice smokiness to it, but even the jalapenos they added were defanged and heatless. Seaweed salad was bland. Beef noodle soup was not bad, the broth and noodles were nice. We also had beef tendon, the aforementioned duck, pork tossed in some chili sauce, a tofu and peanut dish, some steamed pork buns, some noodles dressed in vinegary soy sauce, and a char siu flaky pastry. I didn't think any of these were remarkable. Either the flavor wasn't there or I didn't like the texture. Hopefully the others will chime in with more opinions.
- 37 replies
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- Rockville
- Shanghainese
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I should be able to make it by 5:30.
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I'm interested.
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Sure. Honestly I can probably get off work early and just drive there. How early do you think I should leave from Bethesda?
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I stopped by an hour before last call on Saturday and wasn't impressed. Food was overcooked and dry. Even the duck leg, which I thought was 50% fat but somehow they managed to melt it all off. Scallops with yuzu butter, chicken breast skewer with plum sauce, same story. Chawanmushi was watery and underseasoned, a pale imitation of what I was served at the Daikaya pop up. Mandu is right next door and I've had much better late night meals there.
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While we're speaking of Korean I'm always looking for transcendent jajangymyeon. Moa here in Rockville serves a decent version but the noodles aren't quite chewy enough, the sauce not quite smoky enough for me to call it great.
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Duk = rice cakes Mandu = dumplings So Duk mandu guk has both. It is indeed the New Year's soup.
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I've heard they will begin serving ramen on Jan 30/31, with the rest of the venue opening up in early February.
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I'm interested but I live in Rockville/work in Bethesda so I don't know how plausible it is to drive there during rush hour.
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So I just came back from the pop up and my experience was very positive. The only miss was the onigiri (which was underseasoned) but everything else was excellent, especially considering how unfamiliar the Living Social space must have been for the chefs and servers. The chawanmushi...wow, like a shot of pure umami flavor. And the pork belly/egg suggest that Daikaya knows how to make ramen toppings. If the rest of their menu is this good, then Izakaya Seki will have a strong new competitor.
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Finally got a chance to dine here with a meetup group. To be fair I ate a croissant an hour before waiting in line and I was still recovering from a flu so my sense of smell was impaired. The menu was: nam prik khai (duck egg / roe / shrimp paste) This was served with pork rinds but the condiment in my opinion was just not strong enough to balance the oiliness of the rinds. It needed something acidic or more pungent/salty. I'm not a huge pork rind fan in the first place and the egg/roe/paste didn't improve anything. som tum polomai (sour fruit / dried shrimp / bla rah) Too sour. This was basically sitting in a pool of vinegar. It'd probably be okay paired with a huge amount of rice but since this is the second course I was expecting something a bit more balanced. My companion also said that the ratio of fish sauce to acid tasted off to her. bla chorn lom kwan (snakehead fish / kaffir lime / rice powder) This was a winner. Balanced flavors, decent amount of heat. Meaty, salty, fishy, like eating a good anchovy. Great paired with basil and rice. laap chiang mai (pork / lemongrass / sawtooth) I was starting to get full at this point because I was eating a large amount of rice to balance the flavors of the above courses. This dish didn't really stand out in my memory other than that I found the texture offputting. Some of my companions liked it the best however. naem khao tod (crispy rice / sour pork / peanuts) This would've been amazing if it wasn't so sour. The fried rice cakes had amazing texture, but the acid just overpowered everything. phat ga lam (cabbage / basil / khi nu chilies) Braised brussel sprouts. This was a winner but I was so full at this point that I could only eat one. Nice and sweet with a subdued amount of heat. si krong muu (pork ribs / mekhong whiskey / dill) Compared to the strong flavors of the above courses this was almost dull in comparison. Tender and fatty pork with a hint of smokiness and sweetness. But again, I was stuffed at this point so I could only eat one. General observations: heat level was good for everything. Nothing was overpoweringly hot. The heat tended to build up which I think is the best way to present spiciness in a dish. Two dishes were too acidic I thought. I think seven courses is perhaps too much. You can realistically eat maybe 2-3 bites of each course, and for the amount we were given that was not how I rationed my rice. Next time I'll plan accordingly. No complaints about service or the beer selection. Overall my companions and I weren't that impressed with the meal considering the amount of hype LS gets. However. This meal costs $50. For seven courses, that's a damned good bargain. I will probably visit again next month when I'm feeling better to form a second opinion.
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DGS gets a positive review from Sietsema.
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Maybe my perspective is skewed because the Chef Geoffs in Rockville is in walking distance of my apartment. And while I don't consider it a destination restaurant (that is, if I had to drive more than a few miles to reach one I wouldn't bother), it's definitely a step above the local Silver Diner and maybe even Mosaic Cafe (the other sit-down restaurants that are near my apartment). It's traditional New American fare but usually they add some interesting twists, like the brie-braided brioche french toast I had last weekend. And they have a decent beer selection and a good cocktail program. I don't consider culinary merit to be a binary thing. Geoffs has more merit than Ruby Tuesdays, less merit than Komi. If my friends suggest eating out at Geoffs, I won't pout and frown.
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I'll be there on Saturday. Looking forward to it!
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Wow, you guys weren't kidding about the dal. Buttery, caramely, luxurious mouthfeel. I could eat a bucket of that stuff, and the naan they bake here is excellent: light and flaky but with decent chew. I had the Club Thali for lunch and for me it's a great introduction to what makes Indian cuisine great: the sauces and the curries, all delicately spiced. I kinda wish it came with 10 loaves of naan instead of the 2 you get by default.
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When it's not too crowded, this bar is amazing. I was sipping a Jasper's Jamaican, an incredibly fragrant drink that features a single floating star anise. I felt golden. I don't think the food quite lives up to the quality of the cocktails though. I had the burger loco moco and while it was tasty I felt like it's main purpose was to soak up the alcohol.
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I kind of naively ordered a plain steak and provolone...with no other toppings. It still ended up tasting amazing. The cheese tasted aged. Bread had a nice chew. Fries looked like they came out of a Sysco truck but were fried perfectly crisp so I can't complain much.
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I know Sichuan Jin River is getting all the hype these days but I think Joe's is still pretty good. I stopped by for a quick lunch. Place was bustling even though it was Christmas but thankfully no wait. I started out with the Dan Dan Noodles, which while fragrant featured mushy noodles and an uneven distribution of sauce that made the top underseasoned and the bottom unbearably salty. Maybe I needed to mix it better. Thankfully the stir fried rice cakes with pork and vegetables (R26) were wonderful. This dish isn't spicy at all so it's a good choice for your heat-averse friends. A great mix of light flavors and textures between the chewy rice cakes and the juicy mushrooms.
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I'll just echo some sentiments here. My matzo ball soup was great: the matzo ball that soaked up the flavorful broth really well. Pastrami sandwich was great. I was never really impressed by the pastrami at Katz which was too mushy for my taste. At DGS the pastrami has some texture to it. Yeah you end up chewing some fat, but it's pretty tender as fat goes and it pairs well with the crusty bread. The price was a bit more than I was expecting, maybe by 20%, but my experience was positive enough that I want to go back and try some more.
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How busy is this place right now? I was thinking of check it out this Friday but if it takes me an hour to get a seat I may not bother.
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Fugu is back at Sushi Taro. Some a la carte options but a full tasting menu is available for $138 (min two people) https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=464954090206489&set=a.137226149645953.13510.134243606610874&type=1 Kinda want to try this...
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They have some seasonal items like cold tofu, wax beans with kimchee puree, etc but these are all basically appetizers. I don't think they serve any entrees besides ramen.
